2004 articles

Fierce opposition to GM in Japan from consumers and farmers

Fierce opposition from "concerned consumers and angry local farmers", as well as the governor of Hokkaido, has helped stop a Japanese farmer who believes, according to one article, that GM will give him 300-400% yield increases, from growing the GM crop.------

NAGANUMA, Hokkaido-On one section of his Hokkaido farmland, Yoshimasa Miyai had envisioned planting a soybean variety known to be resistant to illnesses and herbicides.

The 46-year-old farmer had expected to plant it next May and later harvest 12 tons of soybeans, with fewer production costs than his regular crops.

Miyai gave up his dream this October, faced with fierce opposition from concerned consumers and angry local farmers.

A farm ministry official also told him he might not receive state grants for that soybean crop.

Why all the fuss? He had planned to grow genetically modified (GM) soybeans. Miyai said it should have posed no problem ``because it is a variety approved by the government.''

If he had stuck to his plan, it would have been the first full-scale cultivation of genetically altered soybeans in Japan.

GM soybeans and other crops are produced in the United States, Argentina and elsewhere. Japan approved import of U.S. and Canadian GM soybeans, corn, potatoes and rapeseed in 1996 after examining their safety.

A total of 59 varieties of six farm products are approved as safe. Most are used as ingredients for soy sauce and cooking oil.

Miyai originally planned to plant the Roundup Ready variety from the United States in a 4.6-hectare (about 11 acres) plot of his farm in Naganuma, one of the nation's major soybean cultivation centers.

When his plan was reported by the media in early October, however, Miyai was immediately criticized.

``I hope he will give up its cultivation. Many consumers are worried,'' said Hokkaido Governor Harumi Takahashi.

Local farmers also protested.

Isami Miyata, president of the Hokkaido Prefectural Union of Agricultural Cooperatives (JA Hokkaido Chuokai), said, ``It would be a big problem if its pollen crossbreeds with neighborhood soybeans, or if that kind of rumor spreads and damages sales of Hokkaido farm produce.''

Miyai was initially undaunted. He said the GM crop is not banned under the law. He said consumers have a choice because the law obliges GM foods to be labeled as such. And he said he had seen no data that show GM soybeans pose health risks to humans.

But only a few weeks later, he dropped the plan and informed the town and local farm co-ops.

Part of the reason was funding.

Soybean producers are entitled to a state grant aimed at encouraging farmers to switch from rice to other crops. The grant accounts for about half of Miyai's annual soybean sales of 20 million yen.

The grant is extended only for soybean crops shipped to two nationwide agricultural co-op associations. The two groups, however, have vowed not to deal in GM soybeans-therefore, no grants for Miyai's GM crops.

``I must think of some way to increase revenue within the framework of the government policy,'' he now says.

The end of Miyai's plan does not mean some farmers won't follow in his footsteps.

Before GM crop labeling became mandatory in April 2001, Miyai shipped domestically 16 tons of GM soybeans he cultivated on an experimental basis in 1997 and 1998.

He did not specify the crop as genetically altered.

``Even if you distribute GM soybeans without announcing it, there is only a small chance that they would be noticed,'' he said.